Reflection 7: APPRAISING AND REWARD PERFORMANCE

People work in organizations for monetary and nonmonetary reasons. While

monetarily, employees look forward to increasing pay and perks, they also look for job
satisfaction and fulfillment in their jobs. Thus, the motivators that determine whether a
particular employee would stick to the job or leave the organization are based on the
monetary and nonmonetary incentives.

For instance, monetarily, they might be expecting a pay rise every year in
addition to healthy bonuses. In the same manner, they expect recognition for their work
as well as job satisfaction through challenging assignments. As all these aspects are
determined during the appraisal process where not only the pay and perks but also the
chances for promotion and being given more fulfilling work are decided.

Thus, it is clear that performance appraisals must be taken seriously in addition

to being accorded the importance they deserve. Indeed, performance appraisals can be
thought of the most important time in an employee’s stint with the organization and
hence, they must also be conducted with care and caution.

In addition, given the fact that managers also share feedback, performance
appraisals can be occasions for letting the employee know where they are doing well
and which aspects they need to improve their performance.

Performance appraisals must be conducted with care and caution. While good
reviews and top performers usually have a pleasant discussion with their managers, it is
the middle ranked employees who often lead to the most intense and difficult
discussions. Indeed, while those at the bottom would have been expecting such reviews
or have resigned themselves to their fates (literally as well as figuratively), it is the
employees who expect their reviews to reflect their performance in the top bracket but,
instead are rated near the top or in the middle who often pose challenges for the
managers and the HR managers.

It is often the case that performance appraisals become the bone of contention
between the managers and their subordinates due to differences over ratings and the
resultant pay hikes and the quantum of bonuses.

Indeed, it is quite common for employees to allege discrimination on part of the

managers when they receive poor ratings and bad performance reviews.

With research showing that 80% of all employees who quit do so due to

differences with their managers, there is a need for organizations to take the employee
performance appraisals seriously and ensure that there is transparency and
accountability.

This is where performance appraisals based on data and the reason for logic
play such an important role in ensuring organizational success.

Indeed, when performance appraisals are driven by data rather than subjective whims
and biases, then the managers and the Human Resources managers can justifiably
claim that there has been a fair approach that is data-driven.
 To conclude, performance appraisals form a crucial and critical part of the
employee experience and hence, it is better to conduct them as professionally and as
diligently as possible.